(3)Golden State Warriors vs. (6)Denver Nuggets Game 1: Saturday, April 16 Nuggets at Warriors 7:30pm ABC Game 2: Monday, April 18 Nuggets at Warriors 9:00pm TNT Game 3: Thursday, April 21 Warriors at Nuggets 9:00pm TNT Game 4: Sunday, April 24 Warriors at Nuggets 2:30pm ABC Game 5* Wednesday, April 27 Nuggets at Warriors Game 6* Friday, April 29 Warriors at Nuggets Game 7* Sunday, May 1 Nuggets at Warriors *All times Central
J.R not playing around, Clean sweep of all the first round threads. @DreamShook weeps. will miss the bad polls.
I think the Warriors win in 6. They just have another level for this kind of stuff that is above Denver's and as long as Steph, Klay, and Green are going to play a majority of a series its hard for me to bet against them.
Warriors in 7. Home court will carry the day but this is going to be a really fun series, let's see if Jokic is just a great player or a generational/perennial MVP type player that can carry his team to a series win
John Hollinger: https://theathletic.com/3248347/2022/04/15/hollinger-2022-nba-playoffs-suns/ (3) Golden State vs. (6) Denver This is a theoretically interesting matchup, at the very least, because the Nuggets won the season series, 3-1. My golden rule of first-round series is that the team without home court is drawing dead if it didn’t at least tie the season series but has a very realistic chance of advancing if it won. In reality, however, the interest in this series is due to a very different form of probability: The chance that Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. might suit up at some point and dramatically improve the supporting cast around likely MVP winner Nikola Jokić. However, it appears unlikely either of the two will play, based on the most recent reporting we have. And situationally, Denver’s 3-1 season series win looks flimsy. Defensive warlock Draymond Green played in zero of the four games, and he figures to be the primary defender on Jokić in this series — a matchup of perhaps the league’s best defensive player against its best offensive player. The other injury drama here, of course, is Steph Curry’s return from a sprained ligament in his foot. Even with an improved bench and Klay Thompson back, the Warriors still stink when Curry doesn’t play; they were outscored by 1.4 points per 100 when he was off the court (no other Warrior remotely had this level of negative impact) and went 8-10 in the 18 games he missed; half of those wins were in the last week of the season against opponents who had white-flagged the game. The median expectation is that this is roughly a four-week injury; it occurred on March 16. The smart bet, then, is that Curry misses Game 1, joins the fray in Game 2 on some kind of minutes limit and ramps up from there. We’ll be guessing until the weekend, most likely, because the Warriors have a strong incentive to keep Denver uncertain. I don’t think the Warriors win Game 1 without Curry. But unless Murray parachutes in, I still think they win the series. Pick: Warriors in seven
https://theathletic.com/3244311/202...and-executive-pick-2022s-first-round-winners/ No. 3 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 6 Denver Nuggets Scout’s outlook: “It’s unfortunate those two teams are playing each other because they’re both really good teams (and one will be eliminated early). “With Golden State, health is going to be an issue, clearly. What’s Steph Curry’s status going to be? Is Klay Thompson really all the way back? They have the home court. I don’t think that really matters in this series. With health, they would be a fairly clear favorite, I think. But since they’re kind of patched together physically, it makes it a more even series. … “Jokić is the best or second-best player in the league. But the Warriors are very smart. They’ll gang-tackle him, if you will. Denver’s overachieved, I think. They’ve played the whole year without Jamal Murray. They’ve played the whole year, basically, without Michael Porter Jr. It shows you how great Jokić is. In a seven-game series, I don’t know if the Nuggets can win four games. Their other pieces are good. Will Barton’s a nice player. Monte Morris has been really good. But there is a big talent differential. Can one guy — Jokić — carry the load for an entire series against the Warriors? I’d be surprised. So I’ll go Warriors, 4-2.” Coach’s outlook: “Nikola Jokić’s been amazing the whole season. I think he’ll be amazing in this series. If Golden State’s healthy, if Steph is back and with having Klay back this season, their championship pedigree with Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala (would put them over the top). I expect it to be a good series, but I think the Warriors will prevail.” Executive’s outlook: “That’s another series where injuries will play a factor and the response from injury will play a factor. I would say Denver will win in six, just because they have one of the best players in the league and he can control the game at such a huge level on offense, and he’s proven capable of playing playoff-caliber defense. “Golden State was off to a great start, and they’ve had great success over the course of the season. But it seems like they kind of tailed off toward the end of the year, and some of that was driven by injury. “I would just look at Denver to advance despite their injuries, which have been significant. They were still capable of producing this season just because they’ve so dramatically built up Jokić into what he is now. The whole thing (for Denver) seems to work together so well. They can play pick-and-rolls. They can play in transition. Jokić can bring the ball up. And then once you get in the playoffs, when those possessions really start to tighten up, he’s just so good around the basket and when you need a basket at any point in the game. Especially in the fourth quarter, he can produce. Denver’s defense is probably a little bit underrated. They have some versatility when they have all their pieces. They won’t have everyone that they were previously relying on, but they have enough defensive pieces, and they can play multiple styles. … “So I would say Denver has a little bit of an advantage in that series going in, just based on the injuries. If Golden State can get back to playing the way they played the first month or month and a half of the season, they may have a chance.” Scout’s pick: Warriors in six Coach’s pick: Warriors in six Executive’s pick: Nuggets in six Consensus advancing team: Warriors
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33720582/nba-playoffs-experts-picks-every-first-round-series Golden State Warriors (3) vs. Denver Nuggets (6) Kendra Andrews: Warriors in 5 Jamal Collier: Warriors in 6 Nick DePaula: Warriors in 6 Nick Friedell: Warriors in 7 Kirk Goldsberry: Warriors in 6 Israel Gutierrez: Warriors in 7 Richard Jefferson: Warriors in 6 Tim Legler: Warriors in 6 Andrew Lopez: Warriors in 7 Zach Lowe: Warriors in 6 Tim MacMahon: Warriors in 6 Bobby Marks: Warriors in 7 Dave McMenamin: Nuggets in 7 Kevin Pelton: Warriors in 7 Kendrick Perkins: Warriors in 6 Omar Raja: Warriors in 7 Jorge Sedano: Warriors in 7 Ramona Shelburne: Warriors in 5 André Snellings: Warriors in 7 Marc J. Spears: Warriors in 6 Ohm Youngmisuk: Warriors in 7 Final tally: Warriors 20, Nuggets 1
Death, taxes and the NBA media circle jerking over the Warriors... nothing could ever be more certain
Goddamnit I hate Draymond Green. I don't need this shitty Warriors propaganda on my TV. Gold blooded? Get in the bin
